1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of manufacturing assembly and more particularly to an apparatus and method for removal of adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner.
2. Description of the Art
In numerous manufacturing applications, it is well known to attach adhesive-backed molded objects to a particular product for protective or separation purposes such as feet, stops, or spacers. One example of such a molded object product is the Bumpon.TM. protective product manufactured by the 3M Company. Typically, these molded objects are manufactured in a pad form, wherein each pad includes numerous molded objects adhesively secured to a liner with the molded objects formed in columns and rows on the pad. The user of the molded objects removes an individual molded object from the pad and then places the molded object onto the end product in the particular application, such as the chassis of electronic devices, cabinetry, etc. The typical technique for application of the molded object to an end product is to manually remove a molded object from the pad and then attach the molded object to the end product. This is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process and is tedious for the person manually removing the molded objects from the liner and then applying the molding object to the end product. Additionally, the person may encounter physical problems due to the repetitious nature of the process.
Attempts to automate the process of removing the molded objects from the pad face numerous obstacles. First, the molded objects are typically die-cut during manufacture to separate the individual objects from each other which often causes perforations in the liner of the pad. This results in the liner, typically made from a paper material, being quite susceptible to tearing as the molded objects are removed. Excessive liner tearing can make it difficult to position the pad and remove subsequent molded objects. Additionally, a typical application may require several molded objects to be applied to an end product during each machine cycle so that methods for removing an entire row of molded objects from the pad, such as by running the pad over a sharp corner to dislodge the molded objects from the liner, are not acceptable. Such methods are not able to remove a specified number of molded objects or retain the objects for subsequent placement onto the end product for a particular application.
What is needed is an automated process and apparatus for removing adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner which is capable of removing a specified number of objects from a particular row of the liner with minimal or no tearing of the liner. Such a process should further be capable of then removing remaining objects on the particular row in a controlled manner and then proceeding to the next row of the pad until all the molded objects on the pad are removed. Such a process would preferably provide for transportation of the molded objects for direct placement onto the end product or to a specified location for subsequent placement onto the end product.